DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Priority
This application is a DIV of U.S. Patent Application No. 17/502,022, filed October 14, 2021, which is now U.S. Patent No. 11,834,709, filed November 17, 2017, and claims the benefit of priority of U.S. Provisional Application No. 63/092,104, filed October 15, 2020.
Status of the claims
Claims 1-9 are pending and are currently under review.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 1-9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hart et al. (pub, Nov 27, 2012, U.S. Patent No. 8,321,140).
Regarding claims 1-9, Hart et al. provides a system comprising: a MJ research PTC-200 thermocycler that is integrated with a PerkinElmer Multiprobe II Plus liquid handling system (col 10, lines 5-7). Hart et al. teach system as comprising of an analysis device i.e. Applied BioSystems 3730xl DNA Analyzer for analysis (col 10, lines 21-23).
Hart et al. teach measurements of step (b) are entered into a computer-readable physical storage medium or memory, and steps (c)-(e) are performed by a computer processor executing instructions, encoded on a computer-readable physical storage medium or memory, for performing such steps. In particular embodiments, the computer-readable memory comprising the instructions can be the same as or different from the memory on which the measurements of step (b) are stored (see col 1, lines 65-67 and col 2, lines 1-4).
Hart et al. teach the measuring step (b) is performed on a plurality of aliquots taken from the reaction mixture at respective plural cycles during the amplifying regimen (col 2, lines 38-45).
Hart et al. teach in col 2, lines 59-67, that the program stored in the memory comprises:
a) instructions for inputting values for signals obtained from the target and each of the plurality of standard templates, at each of a plurality of cycles of the regimen, into the program;
(b) instructions for estimating a cycle threshold (C.sub.t) value for each of the plurality of standard templates and the target template using the values entered according to the instructions of (a);
(c) instructions for generating a standard curve, by plotting C.sub.t values estimated in step (b) on the y axis for each of the plurality of the standard templates versus the log of the known copy number on the x axis for each the standard template;
(d) instructions for calculating an initial concentration (Q.sub.0) for the target nucleic acid template by solving the equation C.sub.t(target)=[I-log(Q.sub.0)]/log(E) for Q.sub.0, wherein I is the X intercept of the standard curve and E is the slope of the standard curve; and (e) instructions for outputting a calculated Qo for the target nucleic acid template to a memory, display or other user interface.
In view of the above teachings of Hart et al., Hart et al. anticipates the instant system by teaching structural features/component that are capable of meeting the functional abilities recited by claims 1-9.
Accordingly, the instant claims 1-9 are anticipated by Hart et al.
Conclusion
No claims are allowed.
Correspondence
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to OLAYINKA A OYEYEMI whose telephone number is (571)270-5956. The examiner can normally be reached Monday -Thursday: 9:00 am - 5:00 pm, EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, GARY Benzion can be reached at 571-272-0782. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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OLAYINKA A. OYEYEMI
Examiner
Art Unit 1681
/OLAYINKA A OYEYEMI/Examiner, Art Unit 1681
/GARY BENZION/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1681
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